Lincoln Center


Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to five million visitors annually. It houses performing arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Juilliard School.

History

Planning

A consortium of civic leaders and others, led by and under the initiative of philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller III, built Lincoln Center as part of the "Lincoln Square Renewal Project" during Robert Moses's program of New York's urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. Respected architects were contracted to design the major buildings on the site. In the course of acquiring the land for the complex, more than 7,000 residents and 800 businesses from the San Juan Hill area of Lincoln Square were displaced.
Rockefeller was appointed as the Lincoln Center's inaugural president in 1956, and once he resigned, became its chairman in 1961. He is credited with having raised more than half of the $184.5 million in private funds needed to build the complex, including drawing from his own funds; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund also contributed to the project. Numerous architects were hired to build different parts of the center. The center's first three buildings, David Geffen Hall, David H. Koch Theater, and the Metropolitan Opera House were opened in 1962, 1964, and 1966, respectively.
It is unclear whether the center was named as a tribute to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln or for its location in the Lincoln Square Neighborhood. The name was bestowed on the area in 1906 by the New York City Board of Aldermen, but records give no reason for choosing that name. There has long been speculation that the name came from a local landowner, because the square was previously named Lincoln Square. However, property records from the New York Municipal Archives from that time have no record of a Lincoln surname; they only list the names Johannes van Bruch, Thomas Hall, Stephen De Lancey, James De Lancey, James De Lancey Jr. and John Somerindyck. One speculation is that references to President Lincoln were omitted from the records because the mayor in 1906 was George B. McClellan Jr., son of General George B. McClellan, who was general-in-chief of the Union Army early in the American Civil War and a bitter rival of Lincoln's.

Historical timeline

  • April 21, 1955: The Mayor's Slum Clearance Committee chaired by Robert Moses is approved by the New York City Board of Estimate to designate Lincoln Square for urban renewal.
  • November 8, 1955: John D. Rockefeller III is elected as chairman.
  • June 22, 1956: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. incorporated.
  • October 31, 1956: Lincoln Square Development Plan is approved, many changes to the area are proposed.
  • May 14, 1959: Ground-breaking ceremony with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • April 6, 1964: Lincoln Center Fountain, named for Charles Revson, opens.
  • April 23, 1964: New York State Theater opens.
  • October 14, 1965: Vivian Beaumont Theater and the Forum open.
  • November 30, 1965: The Library & Museum of the Performing Arts opens.
  • August 1, 1966: The first indoor festival in the United States, the Midsummer Serenades – A Mozart Festival begins.
  • September 16, 1966: The Metropolitan Opera House opens.
  • May 22, 1969: Damrosch Park and the Guggenheim Band Shell open.
  • September 11, 1969: Alice Tully Hall opens.
  • October 26, 1969: Juilliard School opens.
  • May 20, 1974: The Lincoln Center Institute is officially founded.
  • October 22, 1974: The Avery Fisher Artist Program is founded to give outstanding American instrumentalists significant recognition on which to continue to build their careers. It includes both The Avery Fisher Prize and the Avery Fisher Career Grants.
  • January 30, 1976: The first live telecast of Live from Lincoln Center is broadcast over PBS.
  • October 19, 1976: Avery Fisher Hall re-opens after renovation to improve acoustics.
  • December 4, 1981: The Big Apple Circus marks its first performances at its winter home in Damrosch Park. The circus has performed every winter at Lincoln Center through the 2016 season when it was forced to liquidate its assets due to continued financial losses.
  • September 7, 1982: New York State Theater re-opens after renovation to improve acoustics.
  • August 3, 1987: Classical Jazz, Lincoln Center's first concert series devoted exclusively to jazz, begins in Alice Tully Hall.
  • November 19, 1990: The Samuel B. and David Rose Building opens housing the Walter Reade Theater, the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Rehearsal Studio, the Clark Studio Theater, the School of American Ballet, Juilliard School student residences, and office space for a number of the member organizations.
  • January 27, 1991: The Mozart Bicentennial at Lincoln Center opens with concerts held at Avery Fisher Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House, making it the world's largest and most comprehensive tribute to the life and works of Mozart.
  • August 25, 1993: The section of 65th Street that runs through Lincoln Center, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, is renamed "Leonard Bernstein Place".
  • June 13, 1994: Beverly Sills is elected Chairman of the Board of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. She is the first woman and the first professional musician to be elected to this position, serving until May 1, 2002.
  • January 18, 2001: The Lincoln Center Constituent Development Project is established to implement and oversee the comprehensive reconstruction, renovation, and modernization of Lincoln Center.
  • October 18, 2004: Jazz at Lincoln Center opens. The hall is made up of three theaters: the Rose Theater, the Allen Room, and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.
  • March 20, 2006: Preliminary construction on the West 65th Street Project begins. The Promenade Project, a plan to renovate Josie Robertson Plaza and the Columbus Avenue frontage to the Lincoln Center campus, is announced.
  • June 8, 2006: Lincoln Center announces plans to transform the nearby Harmony Atrium into a public space for the arts open to the public, neighbors, students, and center patrons.
  • February 22, 2009: Alice Tully Hall reopens after redevelopment.
  • September 30, 2009: Opening of the redesigned Charles H. Revson Fountain.
  • May 21, 2010: Renovation plans of central and north plazas unveiled.
  • June 4, 2012: Claire Tow Theater opens.
  • October 1, 2012: The President's Bridge opens over West 65th Street.
  • May 15, 2013: Jed Bernstein begins tenure as president.
  • October 1, 2013: The New York City Opera files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and ceases operation.
  • September 24, 2015: Avery Fisher Hall renamed David Geffen Hall.
  • January 22, 2016: The New York City Opera resumes performances in the Rose Theater.
  • November 16, 2016: Debora Spar becomes Lincoln Center's first woman president after the sudden departure of Jed Bernstein.

    Construction milestones

In 1955, the first city institution to commit to be part of the Lincoln Square Renewal Project, an effort to revitalize the city's west side with a new performing arts complex that would become the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, was the Fordham Law School of Fordham University. In 1961, Fordham Law School was the first building to open as part of the renewal project, and in 1968, Fordham College at Lincoln Center welcomed its first students.
The development of the condominium at 3 Lincoln Center, completed in 1991, designed by Lee Jablin of Harman Jablin Architects, made possible the expansion of The Juilliard School and the School of American Ballet.
The center's cultural institutions also have since made use of facilities located away from the main campus. In 2004, the center expanded through the addition of Jazz at Lincoln Center's newly built facilities, the Frederick P. Rose Hall, at the new Time Warner Center, located a few blocks to the south. In March 2006, the center launched construction on a major redevelopment plan that modernized, renovated, and opened up its campus. Redevelopment was completed in 2012 with the completion of the President's Bridge over West 65th Street.

Renovations

When first announced in 1999, Lincoln Center's campus-wide redevelopment was to cost $1.5 billion over 10 years and radically transform the campus. The center management held an architectural competition, won by the British architect Norman Foster in 2005, but did not approve a full-scale redesign until 2012, in part because of the need to raise $300 million in construction costs and the New York Philharmonic's fear that it might lose audiences and revenue while it was displaced. Among the architects that have been involved were Frank Gehry; Cooper, Robertson & Partners; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Beyer Blinder Belle; Fox & Fowle; Olin Partnership; and Diller & Scofidio.
In March 2006, the center launched the 65th Street Project – part of a major redevelopment plan continuing through the fall of 2012 – to create a new pedestrian promenade designed to improve accessibility and the aesthetics of that area of the campus. Additionally, Alice Tully Hall was modernized and reopened to critical and popular acclaim in 2009 and Film at Lincoln Center expanded with the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Topped by a sloping lawn roof, the film center is part of a new pavilion that also houses a destination restaurant named Lincoln, as well as offices. Subsequent projects were added which addressed improvements to the main plazas and Columbus Avenue Grand Stairs. Under the direction of the Lincoln Center Development Project, Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with FXFOWLE Architects and Beyer Blinder Belle Architects provided the design services. Additionally, Turner Construction Company and RCDolner, LLC were the construction managers for the projects. Another component to redevelopment was the addition of the David Rubenstein Atrium designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, a visitors' center and a gateway to the center that offers free performances, day-of-discount tickets, food, and free Wi-Fi.
In 2019, Diamond Schmitt Architects was appointed Design and Executive Architect for the master plan and renovation of David Geffen Hall concert theater and masterplan. Diamond Schmitt designed the concert hall and back-of-house spaces while TWBTA designed the public spaces. When the Hall reopened in 2022, the main auditorium was renamed the Wu Tsai Theatre after a $50 million donation from Joseph Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai.
In 2023, Lincoln Center announced plans to renovate the western end of the complex, which included the removal of a retaining wall separating Lincoln Center from the Amsterdam Houses housing development to the west. Hood Design Studio and Weiss/Manfredi were hired to design the renovation of the western part of Lincoln Center. At the time, access to Lincoln Center from the west was possible only by climbing 40 steps near the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street. Details of the project were announced in May 2025; the project would cost $335 million and include a new Amsterdam Avenue entrance, park, and outdoor performance area. About of the retaining wall north of 62nd Street would be replaced by the new entrance.